The evening ended with everyone seeming to have a good time. Kristi said she wasn't ready to go back so Harry took her to a very popular club on Diagon Alley. There was quite a commotion when the pair walked up to the entrance since they were both celebrities and Harry was so rarely out like this in public. The stunned doorman let them in instantly and the two went straight to the dance floor, oblivious to the other people around. This was one of the few times Harry could remember that being out in a crowd didn't make him nervous at all. The two stayed at the club dancing until about three in the morning and were both very tired by the time they were leaving. "It's too late for you to try to get home," Harry said to Kristi. "Stay at my place and I'll get you home tomorrow."
She smiled and said, "I thought you'd never ask." The two walked to the Leaky Cauldron and floo'd home since they had been drinking and didn't want to get splinched.
Once in the castle Winky appeared instantly. "Oh no. Sir didn't mention that Miss Kristi would be coming tonight. Winky hasn't prepared a room."
"Don't worry about it Winky. Kristi can have my room and I'll just take the couch. Can you get me a couple blankets?" Harry asked the house-elf.
"I'll take the couch Harry. I'm the one barging in," Kristi offered genuinely.
"You deserve the bed Kristi. I sleep down here a lot, it's no problem," Harry insisted and then walked her upstairs.
"Thanks for an amazing night Harry," Kristi said and then pulled him into a fantastic kiss. Harry realized he hadn't been kissed like this in a long time.
"Um… And thanks for that," Harry said trying to talk. "See you in the morning. If you need anything, just call for Winky."
Harry went back downstairs and fell asleep soon after still thinking about the kiss.
The next morning, Hermione got up and went downstairs. She wasn't surprised to see Harry on the couch. He slept down there often enough, but he did seem to be tossing more than normal and she thought he might be having a dream. She was surprised to hear sounds coming from the kitchen. When Hermione entered the room she heard. "Good morning Hermione. Hope I didn't startle you."
Hermione hated that Kristi was here but felt relief that she knew Harry was on the couch. "Not at all Kristi. How was the ball?"
"Amazing," Kristi said in a tone that made Hermione jealous. Just from the way Kristi said 'amazing', Hermione knew the woman had a great time with Harry. Kristi hesitated and then added, "I should probably wake Harry, I wanted to let him sleep a bit since he had such a long day."
Hermione thought for a second. "Um Kristi. Have you ever had to wake Harry up before?"
Kristi looked at her and said, "No. He was always awake when he stayed at my place."
"Well, let me give you a tip. If he looks like he's having a nightmare, be very careful. I'd hate to see him blast you through the wall or anything," Hermione said honestly.
Kristi looked shocked and once she realized Hermione wasn't kidding, she said, "Thank you Hermione. I'll remember that." Kristi got up and went to Harry. She stroked his head softly and said, "Harry. It's me Kristi; it's time to get up."
Harry immediately opened his eyes and smiled. "Hey. Sorry I slept so much"
"No problem. Go get ready and I'll wait down here," Kristi replied.
Harry got up and ran upstairs to shower and change. Kristi went back to the kitchen to talk to Hermione. "Hermione. Would he really do anything if he was scared?"
Hermione really didn't want to talk to Kristi but replied, "Count on it. If you went through seven years having nightmares about being killed, or someone killing your parents and friends, you'd be jumpy too. Add to that just how powerful he is and it could be dangerous to startle him. Just by accident, I was exposed to some of what he's gone through and that still gives me nightmares."
"Thank you for telling me," Kristi said genuinely appreciative.
"I know Harry wouldn't mention it," Hermione said flatly.
Harry came running down a few minutes later. "Sorry about that Hermione. We had a bit to drink so I didn't think we should try apparating to Kristi's."
"I'm glad to see you were being responsible Harry. Merlin knows I don't know where you got that from," Hermione said with a smile.
"From you of course!" Harry said. "Who else?" Harry added before disapparating to take Kristi home.
Harry had been gone for a bit when the Daily Prophet arrived. On the cover was an article about the reception for the Giants. There were pictures of the Giants dancing and also of Harry dancing with Belissa. The article was praising the Ministry's effort to bring Giants and Wizards closer together. The next page showed a large picture of Harry dancing with Kristi and the headline was, "Just Teammates?" The article went on to describe how the reporter saw Kristi looking longingly at Harry and how much fun the couple seemed to be having together. It also said that even though the ball was over early, Kristi and Harry were seen dancing at a popular club until very early in the morning.
Hermione kicked herself with every word and thought that could have been her. If only she had chosen Harry over school orientation. She was still beating herself up when Harry appeared a few minutes later and instantly began apologizing. "I'm sorry she came back here Hermione. We just had too much to drink and I couldn't risk apparating."
"Harry, that's ok. You did the right thing. I would have told you to do that exact thing," Hermione said and Harry calmed down.
"Thanks. I really didn't intend to bring a date back here," Harry said still feeling bad.
"Really, it's ok.
You can bring a date here.
Remember, we're just roommates," Hermione said before catching
herself. She felt Harry tense up when
he heard those words.
"Oh. Of course. Well, I still should have warned you," he said before retreating to his room.
Hermione just couldn't believe she had done it again. What was she thinking? Why was she making this so hard?
The next week at work, Harry found out that the Giants and in fact, everyone in the Ministry had really liked Kristi. She had impressed every single person she met that night with how easily she talked to people and how confident she seemed. The reception had been a turning point and Hermione knew it. From that point on, Harry was dating Kristi. He had seen her almost every week and the both really seemed happy.
Harry and Ron had a routine where they would meet for a couple drinks every Thursday after work and after one of these meetings, Harry came home and said, "Ron found an apartment and we're invited to a house warming party next Friday. Please say you don't have schoolwork."
Hermione smiled and said, "Nope, no problem at all."
Harry suggested they go shopping and get Ron and Parviti a gift together, so that's exactly what they did. The two friends spent the day trying to dodge fans and eventually found a nice gift for their friend. When Harry and Hermione were ready to leave, Hermione asked where Kristi was and to her surprise Harry said he hadn't invited her.
After arriving and getting the tour of Ron's new apartment, Harry said loudly, "Ron. You gave me a hard time about my place being girly, but Parvati has already put her mark on this place." Parvati looked offended but Harry quickly added, "Trust me Parvati, that's a good thing," and the pretty girl perked right up. Everyone had a really nice time at Ron's and both Harry and Hermione commented on how happy he seemed with Parvati.
Ron was doing really well running the new joke shop, helped out in no small part by Cho Chang who knew the business end inside and out. She was also at the party and Harry ended up talking to her a bit, she kept thanking Harry for suggesting that Ron ask her to help open the new store. Harry was genuinely happy that he and Cho could still be considered friends and he was doing much better at blocking out the picture of Cho kissing another man that had broken them up.
Harry could tell Ron seemed nervous all night and saw Parvati poke him and whisper something in his ear. "I have an announcement," Ron said, trying to stay calm. "As of yesterday, I am the reserve keeper for Puddlemere United."
Everyone jumped up and congratulated him. Ron was getting really embarrassed but did love the attention. "It's not like being the starting seeker on a national team but it's a start," Ron said still blushing bright red.
"Hey, you're getting paid to play Quidditch. How great is that. Before long, you'll be the starting keeper," Harry causing his friend to get even redder.
Ron went on to describe how the tryouts were and that it was close between him and the person who got the starting keeper position.
Summer ended without any fanfare, Hermione started serious schoolwork and was spending most of her time studying. Harry's next Quidditch season had started as well and he had been visiting Kristi one weekend after a match when she mentioned a charity photo shoot focusing on Quidditch players. Kristi tried to talk Harry into participating but Harry kept declining saying he didn't want any extra publicity.
During the next week, Harry was talking to Hermione before she went to school. "Let me come over and take you to lunch today. It will do you good," Harry offered.
"I'll be with my study group at lunch. We've got so much to go over. Another time, ok?" Hermione replied.
"Fine. If you're that busy," Harry said not wanting to bother his friend. Later, Harry decided he really wanted to surprise Hermione, so he gathered up enough food for her whole study group and apparated to her school. Harry walked to the area where she said they usually studied and approached a group that he thought would be her study group. "Excuse me; is this Hermione Granger's study group?"
The students looked up and their mouth's dropped. One girl said, "You're... You're Harry Potter."
Harry chucked. "Afraid so, but is this Hermione Granger's study group?" Harry laughed that even at the university people would still act like this.
One of the boys said, "Yes, what do you want with her?"
"I wanted to bring lunch to you all. She said you were busy studying and couldn't go out. Is she here?"
"Why would you want to bring lunch to Hermione?" Another girl asked.
"She's my roommate and she needs to eat," Harry answered, beginning to get annoyed.
"You're the roommate she talks about? She's always mentioning her roommate Harry but we didn't know it was you," the first girl said sounding very surprised.
"Oh. Well, I guess it's me because I'm her roommate and I'd know if anyone else lived with us. Do you know where I can find her?" Harry asked desperately wanting to find his friend.
"She went to the library a while ago, it's that way," the girl said pointing the direction.
"Ok, thanks. Oh, by the way, this food is for you." Harry dropped off the bags of food he had brought and started walking in the direction the girl had pointed. Of course Hermione would be in the library he thought and it brought a smile to his face. However, before he reached the building, he noticed a bushy headed girl sitting near the cafeteria talking to a good-looking man. He looked closer and recognized it was Hermione, laughing and eating a salad. She had told him that she was too busy to have lunch with him, but now she's having it with someone else. Harry's first thoughts were back to Cho lying to him. Instead of saying anything, he just disapparated away and went back to work.
A bit later, Hermione returned to her study group and was surprised when one of the girls exclaimed, "You didn't say your roommate was Harry Potter!"
Hermione looked stunned so another girl said, "Did he find you? He came to bring us all food and we said you were in the library and sent him off your way. Why wouldn't you tell us that he was your roommate? Oh my gosh, he's even better looking in person."
Hermione smiled and thought that it was just like Harry to do something as thoughtful as bring lunch for the entire group. Then Hermione went pale; she realized that Harry must have seen her and also remembered telling him that she was too busy to have lunch with him. Knowing how Harry's mind worked, she could imagine that he thought she tried to keep this from him.
After leaving work that day, Harry went home and left a note for Hermione that he had gone out and wouldn't be back until late so she shouldn't wait up. He was mainly annoyed with himself for how he felt after seeing Hermione. He had actually felt jealous when he saw her eating with another guy after she said she had been too busy to go to lunch with him even though he knew he shouldn't feel this way since he honestly wanted Hermione to be happy. Getting more annoyed with himself, Harry went to Kristi's and this time when she mentioned the photo shoot, he agreed, much to her surprise. She was delighted and said they could do it the next day. Harry didn't know why he wanted to do this now, he just felt like he wanted to do something out of character for him.
Harry was greeted when he got home by Hermione saying, "I thought you were going to be out late? This isn't late for you." Harry just shrugged.
"I'm sorry I missed you today. You made quite an impression on the group," Hermione said wanting to bring up the subject slowly.
"Why didn't you tell them I was your roommate?" Harry asked looking confused. He still had mixed emotions about the day and was disappointed in himself for the way he acted.
"I wanted to be in a group that wanted to focus on studying. If everyone knew we were roommates some people would want to join just to meet you."
Harry hung his head. "Oh. Sorry, I guess I ruined that. I should have known."
"It's fine now, I'm already in a good study group. I would have told them but it just never came up. It was actually better this way; you really gave them a shock," Hermione said trying to smile. "I want to explain about lunch."
"You don't have to. I shouldn't have come. You said you were too busy and I should have just barged in anyway," Harry said not wanting to talk about it.
"I really was busy and went to the library to find a book but was irritated when someone else already had it. I must have made a noise because Mark said something. Before I knew it, he had convinced me to get something to eat," Hermione said sounding very sorry.
"Good for him. You need people making sure you're enjoying of yourself and not just studying all the time. I said it's really ok and I learned my lesson and won't just show up again," Harry said trying to smile.
"You should have just come over when you saw me."
"Oh no, I'm not going to jump in when you're making new friends," Harry said and then tried to make some small talk until Hermione let him go to bed. He had a hard time going to sleep since he was so disappointed in the way he acted. He knew Hermione would never lie to him and yet that's the first thing that came to his mind.
Harry met Kristi the next day and followed her into a large office. A lady handed the pair some parchments that she said were standard releases allowing the company to use the pictures they take. Harry signed everything Kristi did since he knew many other Quidditch players were doing this shoot and felt comfortable about doing it. The proceeds were going to help orphans and those affected by dark wizards over the past few years.
Suddenly Harry heard a familiar voice. "Harry! I don't believe it." He turned to see Katie Bell.
"Katie. I heard you were a photographer. You must be doing pretty well," Harry said cheerfully greeting his old schoolmate.
"I'm doing alright. Not compared to you, but pretty good. I didn't expect you to agree to this, I know how you hate the press," Katie joked.
"Well, someone twisted my arm," Harry joked back pulling Kristi over.
"I bet." Katie said raising her eyebrows, "I've seen the pictures of you two in the papers. You make an amazing couple," Katie said before hesitating. "Interested in doing a couple shots together?"
Harry looked at Kristi who said, "Sure. I'd actually prefer it that way."
Katie went away for a bit and came back to describe what she had in mind. Harry's eyes got really wide, but Kristi looked confident and was smiling. "C'mon Potter. Don't wimp out on me now. Remember it's for charity."
"I don't know. I've never done anything like that," Harry said sounding worried.
"It's no big deal, we'll be covered," Kristi said clearly comfortable with the idea.
"But it's Katie. You know, we went to school together," Harry said blushing.
"C'mon Potter. I'm a professional," Katie said sounding the part.
Harry finally agreed and went along with the shoot. After it was finally over, Katie came over to them. "This is going to be amazing. You two were fantastic."
Kristi kissed Harry and said, "You never cease to surprise me."
"You just bring out a different side of me," Harry replied kissing her back.
Harry went directly to meet Ron at the pub. Harry was happy to hear how great things were going for Ron, with the store was doing well, he was practicing with a Quidditch team and he and Parvati were getting more serious every day. Ron could tell his friend was acting really preoccupied, so he asked, "What's up with you mate? You're acting like you need to find a girl for the ball."
Harry then tried to tell Ron about the photo shoot. "I think I've done something stupid," said Harry trying to act calm and took another drink.
Ron laughed and said, "That's nothing unusual."
Harry told Ron about agreeing to be in the charity photo shoot and Ron thought that was good. Harry went on to talk about Katie and again, Ron thought that was great. Then Harry told his friend about posing together with Kristi.
"Well, you two are dating, so that's good as well. I don't see the problem mate," Ron said not understanding Harry's nervousness.
"The poses were a bit more suggestive than I expected. And, we weren't wearing what I expected," Harry said starting to blush.
"Come on, how bad could it be. What, did they get you kissing?"
"Well a couple were kissing, but that's not what was bad," Harry said and told Ron about some of the poses.
"Oh, well that is out of character for you, but hey everyone knows you two are a couple so I don't see the problem. What was wrong with what you were wearing?" Ron asked but Harry didn't answer. "What, did they have you down to your boxers or something?" Ron laughed.
Harry didn't answer right away so Ron picked up on this. "They did, didn't they? You were in your boxers and Kristi had knickers. Oh, please say she was only wearing knickers!"
Harry was bright red and answered, "Um... Not quite...We were naked."